


Stars Above

by East_Of_Akkala



Category: Final Fantasy VI
Genre: By which I mean flirting, Canon-Typical Behavior, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Light Angst, light shipping, stars are pretty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-09-24 19:46:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20364079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/East_Of_Akkala/pseuds/East_Of_Akkala
Summary: Set early during the storyline of FFVI after Locke and Terra get to Figaro castle. Edgar and Terra go stargazing, and Edgar reflects on his guest.





	Stars Above

**Author's Note:**

> The stretch of time in which the game takes place is a bit vague, so I decided to add in a night or so between Terra and Locke reaching Figaro Castle and Kefka showing up. This is what I imagine could have happened on that night for two of the characters. Please enjoy.

A girl catching King Edgar’s attention usually just meant that it was Tuesday in Figaro.

However, besides the fact she’d caught his attention, there was nothing ordinary about the girl Locke had brought from Narshe. Even before Locke had told him about her abilities, Edgar could see an otherworldliness to her. By that, he didn’t mean her beauty, which was no doubt significant despite some clearly difficult circumstances. Neither did it mean whatever Locke had said about her “abilities”. No, there was something about her which seemed out of step with her surroundings, whether it was her confusion at his attempts to flirt, the way her eyes remained on the ground, the way she stayed perfectly still, not even fidgeting…

Some of it Locke inadvertently explained that evening as the two had spoken in his council chamber. She’d been under a slave crown, another barbaric creation of a barbaric empire Edgar was proud to oppose however quietly. Judging from her amnesia, she’d been under it a long time. Edgar hardly knew her and already felt his heart go out to her. No matter her confusion now, he was glad she was free.

Still, he reflected that evening after Locke had gone to rest, it did not explain away everything about her. There was a grace to her, when she moved, that seemed so alien to anything he’d seen before. Surely that had not come from the empire; they wouldn’t know beauty or grace if it ran circles around Vector dressed in Kefka Palazzo’s clothes on the back of a chocobo.

Only time would tell him what these observations meant, and only then with a bit of prying and a lot of luck. He supposed she’d soon be gone again, in the hands of his Returner allies fighting the good fight to bring the Gestahlian Empire to its knees. He almost regretted he wouldn’t be able to do the prying himself, so interested was he in the puzzle she already presented.

The questions kept him from sleeping himself, as puzzles often did. Ruling and tinkering alike were very mental exercises whose solutions were often hidden. He’d often come up with solutions to both types of problems late at night after restlessly wandering the castle, mind awhirl. At the very least, even if it didn't, sometimes it helped him relax a bit. And so tonight, again, he took to wandering. The servants kept out of his way, sensing he was puzzling over something or other. How wonderful his people were, he reflected, from the guards to his council, all quite empathetic. They lightened the burden that had so long been on his shoulders, made it worth it in a way, most of all made it easier to be responsible. Not that he blamed Sabin for deciding his path led elsewhere. They’d been so young when he’d left after that fateful conversation on the upper ramparts, after all.

The upper ramparts…his feet carried him there without a single conscious thought. There were few places better to calm him when his mind raced too fast even for his tools. The sky above was inky and massive, while the wind which blew acrossthe desert was dry and often warm, especially relatively early in the night. Sitting out here alone was like being held in a soothing embrace.

Apparently he was not the only one with a racing mind, he realized as he turned a corner and noticed the girl—Terra, Locke had said her name was—seated with her back against the outer wall, knees drawn to her chest and face skyward. Once again, she was so very still as she sat there. She looked even smaller like this than she actually was, smaller and more vulnerable, and even when standing she looked small enough for even Locke to pick up. 

If the girl heard his footsteps, she made no sign of recognition, simply remained unmoving. He approached slowly, reaching her side still with no reaction, before he sat down quietly next to her.

“Locke said your name is Terra,” he offered. As opening lines went, he’d had better. All the same, she gave a slight nod in response, more of an acknowledgement of his presence than he’d had since he got out here.

“What are you doing up here at this hour?” he decided to ask next.

“No much, my lord,” she began, but he quickly waved her off.

“Please, call me Edgar. ‘My Lord’ is too stuffy,” he said, smiling. Ten years as the king, and ‘My Lord’ still didn’t quite sit right with him.

“Alright,” she replied softly, looking down at the stone floor. “I—I don’t know if we’ve met yet. You said the imperials came here a lot, and I guess I was one, even if—even if I don’t remember.”

Edgar shook his head, maintaining the smile. “No, I don’t think so. I would have remembered a beautiful woman like you.”

Terra looked up at him, a bit confused. “I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to that,” she simply said.

“Well, there isn’t just one answer.”

“How should I answer, then?” she asked, tone too sincere to suggest she was joking with him. A small part of him felt relief—so his technique wasn’t rusty after all, she just clearly hadn’t been flirted with enough to recognize it for what it was. A larger part of him just felt for her once more. Those big green eyes looking right at him didn’t help. Besides being quite beautiful, they were sad.

“Depends on what sort of woman you are,” he replied lightly.

“…I wish I knew what kind of woman I am,” she sighed. “I don’t even know that.”

Well, there went his silly attempt to cheer her up. She clearly still felt sad.

“In time you’ll know,” he finally managed. “I simply hope you won’t want to slap me!”

She smiled then, just a thin sliver on her elegant face. “I don’t think I would,” she just said. “It doesn’t really annoy me. Should it? Some of the maids were complaining downstairs.”

“Were they now?” Secretly he was glad; it’d be a dark day when his own people were too scared of him to criticize his own behavior.

“Yes. They said you flirt with any woman you see.”

“Only the beautiful ones.”

Terra blinked. “So all women are beautiful?”

He grinned. “You’ve caught on.” What he didn’t add was that while all were quite beautiful and many were charming, she herself was unusual for both. What she lacked in finesse, she more than made up for in her curiosity and openness. Not to mention she seemed to be very sweet.

Edgar let the conversation fall there, and they lapsed into silence for a few moments. He watched her out of the corner of his eye as she resettled and turned her face skyward.

“What were you doing outside, anyway?” He decided to ask a moment later.

“Looking at the stars,” she answered. “They’re very beautiful tonight.”

“They certainly are,” he agreed. “I often look at them myself.”

“I don’t remember ever looking at them before.”

“Well, that’s only natural from a former imperial. The stargazing isn’t as good in Vector as it is here.”

“Why not?”

“There are too many lights to see anything clearly.” Edgar sighed, remembering the occasional visits to the capital of the Gestahlian Empire he’d had to endure through the years. He had never liked Vector, with its heavy buildings and dark, cold color scheme. He couldn’t see Terra belonging there if he tried. Even if she knew very little about herself and he even less, he could already get inklings of her nature. Open, curious, kind…Nothing delicate and beautiful like her belonged in their hands. No, she belonged somewhere where such things were appreciated, where she could be free to rediscover herself and the world around her, to see that it was a beautiful place, to be surrounded by loving people.

Somewhere, perhaps, like here.

His mind startled at the thought. Where had that come from? Terra would be leaving soon, for goodness sake! She might not ever come back here. Moreover, why had the thought come? He’d never had such an idea in his head before about a girl. Sentimental though he could be (albeit mostly in private), this wasn’t the sort of thing he often thought about.

Edgar brushed it from his mind. He wasn’t so stupid, inexperienced or self-deluded to know what wanting her to stay could mean, but also knew that he’d have to think about such things later. What mattered was that she was here now. He could perhaps help her with a few things. It was the least he could do for someone he was already beginning to care about.

“I suppose no one ever taught you much about constellations,” he spoke again.

“If they did, I’d forgotten,” Terra replied. “Would you show me a few now?”

“With pleasure.”

He smiled again and pointed to a particularly bright blue star right above them. “See, that’s the head of the serpent…” As he continued explaining, she tentatively leaned a bit closer. Neither moved for a long time beyond that, except for when the wind began to cool and Edgar draped his cloak around Terra when he noticed she was shivering. She thanked him, and the astronomy lesson went on. 

In spite of himself, Edgar felt another traitorous thought, that sitting with Terra like this explaining the night sky would be a fine way to spend many more nights.

**Author's Note:**

> I still technically have this as F/M and think it fits, but at the same figured the level of shipping doesn't quite reach the point of designating this Edgar/Terra. I wrote it with that in mind, but if it's not your cup of tea, it's not and that's totally fine!
> 
> Anyway, this is my first Final Fantasy fic, and just kinda wrote itself. No idea how good it is, but I did my best. Please give me as much constructive criticism as you feel this merits (but please, don't be mean about it :) ). 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
